


Rebel Princess

by ElopeToTheSea



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Romance, i have no idea how to tag this, if you're desperate enough you'll read it, rarepair struggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 15:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20726423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElopeToTheSea/pseuds/ElopeToTheSea
Summary: Kairi had always been a "good girl".





	Rebel Princess

“You are a good girl, Kairi.”

Those words had been muttered her way, for as far back as she could remember. Everyone around her would say it. Teachers, friends, other kids, and their parents. The only people that never said it, were her own parents.

They said she was selfish. A good for nothing. A bad girl.

So, like a moth to the fire, she latched on to as many positive responses as she could.

A smile always on her face, a stretched-out hand, and a heart ready to give. It was what good girls did. And she was a good girl. Right?

She couldn’t have things of her own. Because jealousy and possessiveness were bad. She couldn’t get angry. Because getting angry made people glare. She couldn’t hold grudges. Because it was ugly in her heart. She couldn’t stop smiling. Because it was smiles that made the world brighter.

Kairi was a perfectly good girl.

That’s why people would stare at her with a puzzled look when she would hang out with Riku and Sora. They were good kids. But they weren’t _perfectly_ good like she was. Riku got jealous of everyone who spoke to Sora and didn’t like smiling at everyone. And Sora was kind but often got in trouble for being careless.

That didn’t matter to Kairi. They had been the first to look through her mask; catch a glimpse of her cracks, and still accept her wholeheartedly. They knew she wasn’t perfect. They knew her heart had a bit of darkness hidden deep inside. And regardless, they continued to offer their hands.

If you asked her, they were far better people than her. But no one ever did ask. Because no one ever asked what a good girl thought.

With Sora and Riku she could let go a bit. She could tease Sora and provoke Riku. At times, she even went as far as to be mischievous. Play innocent pranks, or fake tears to get what she wanted. They were nice. They liked her like this. Even if, deep down, it was still not who she truly was.

They also knew that. They were kind enough not to ask.

The real change happened when Kairi had gone to study at Sora’s house with Riku. Good Girls weren’t supposed to spend the afternoon in her male friend’s room. But that day, she hadn’t cared. Not much, at least.

Unluckily enough, that was the day she first saw Sora and Riku fight. It had astounded her, left her stuck in place, unable to react. The reason had been inconsequential: Riku ate Sora’s favorite candy, and Sora got mad. It had escalated quickly, to the point that by a few minutes in it was no longer about candy.

It didn’t take long for Kairi to realize it was better to leave them alone. Quietly, she stepped out of the room and went to Sora’s kitchen.

A good girl would have to solve the quarrel. She’d have to step between the two and help both apologize. Perhaps too many times she had been asked to do that. By teachers and other kids alike. After all, she was the mature one. The one who knew better.

It was her job. It was her-…

“Wow, you look like _shit_,” someone said.

Kairi jumped back, suddenly startled by the strange new voice. She turned around to see a boy that very much resembled Sora if you took away all the light the boy exceeded. Dark and brooding, with sweatpants and a hoodie. He seemed just out of bed, and it was three in the afternoon.

A million of mean thoughts came through her mind. Insult and teasing alike.

She smiled, offering her hand.

“Good evening, pleased to meet you,” she said. “My name is Kairi. I’m Sora’s classmate!”

The boy blinked. Golden eyes staring directly into Kairi’s blue ones. He didn’t answer. Not even after a full minute. Her smile wavered a bit.

“Y-you must be Sora’s brother! He told me so many nice things about you!”

“That’s a lie,” the boy deadpanned quickly.

“…Well, he has said _some_ nice things about y-you…” Kairi tried to fix her mistake in a stutter. It was a bit true. What little she knew about Sora’s brother always came from the boy excitedly praising him. And Riku…not being so kind.

“Is he sucking face with that Riku bastard again?” he said, and then yawned loudly. Kairi stepped out of the way, so the boy could reach for the counter.

“I think they got in a fight…” she said with a murmur. “I’m worried about them…”

“Eh, give them five minutes,” the man said dismissively. He pulled out Cheetos and a bottle of mountain dew. “They’ll make up and then make out. It’s routine at this point.”

“But I’ve never seen them fight!” Kairi said again. “What if it’s serious this time?!”

“Did Riku storm out?” the boy asked.

“Well, no…”

“Then they’ll be _fine_,” he sighed. “You worry too much, _Poppy_. Ever been told that?”

“Poppy? My name is Kair-”

“Yeah, I heard the first time,” he replied. “You want Cheetos or Doritos?”

Kairi frowned.

“Why do you want to know?”

“As I see it, you have two options,” Sora’s brother said. “You can either come hang out with me… or suffer the fate of having to listen to those two moan each other’s name through the wall. I promise is more disgusting than it sounds.”

“I can leave,” Kairi said, putting her hands on her hips. Sora’s brother let out a chuckle.

“You left your bag inside the room,” he pointed. Kairi closed her eyes, exasperated. He was right. “And I’m guessing you need it.”

Kairi let out a deep breath. Her veins popping in annoyance as she stared at the distorted smile of a man that _looked_ like Sora but was the exact opposite of his angelic friend.

“Alright, you win,” Kairi said. “But can I at least know your name?”

“Vanitas,” the boy smirked. “A pleasure to meet you, _princess_.”

* * *

Actually, hanging out with Vanitas sounded worse than what it really was. He put on a horror movie, in an attempt to scare her. Kairi had never watched a horror movie before -People didn’t think good girls should, so she never bothered- but found that they were _fun_. Really, really fun.

She clung to Vanitas side the entire time, watching the blood splatter across the tv, excited to see who the next victim would be. And perhaps, even more thrilling, she found out that Vanitas was a scaredy-cat that _loved_ horror movies but suffered through the entire thing.

That had made her laugh more than a few times.

Vanitas had then thrown popcorn at her, and then she threw it back. It escalated naturally into a pillow fight, that had ended in a draw. When they were done, Kairi laid down on the floor of Vanitas’ room, staring at the ceiling while the other tried to pluck all the pillow feathers out of his mouth.

She had never felt more relaxed in her life.

Riku and Sora were, of course, very red-faced when she finally came out of Vanitas’ room. She felt bad for them. After all, midway through the movies, their voices _had_ spilled, and Vanitas had kicked the wall telling them both to ‘cut it out before they woke up the entire neighborhood’.

In a hurry, they had apologized to Kairi, who was quick to assure them she was fine. Strangely enough, she wasn’t lying. She really was fine.

“I had fun with Vanitas, don’t worry guys,” she said with a smile.

“…What did you do to her?” Riku was quick to ask.

“Nothing!” Vanitas replied. Riku kept staring. “Oh, suck my dick, Riku. I don’t have to explain shit to you.”

Kairi let out a small laugh. Which in turn, made Vanitas smile.

“I’m glad you are getting along!” Sora beamed. “If you want to come hang out with us, you always can, Kairi!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied, stealing a glance to her side. Vanitas was looking away with a blush on his face. Her cheeks got tainted pink as well.

She kept it _very_ in mind.

That’s very much how she began to spend 99% of her time at Sora’s. In part, because she just really liked hanging out with Sora. Some days they’d put Disney Karaoke and watch vine compilations while curled up in a blanket burrito. But most days, Riku was also there.

Which generally meant Kairi could be easily forgotten when they started getting all mushy with each other. They really tried to include her in their activities, which she genuinely felt grateful for…but they weren’t all that good at keeping their PDA in check.

So, when Riku was there, she’d sneak in Vanitas’ room and lay around.

He was very much an asshole, but a funny one. It was easy for Kairi to just laugh endlessly when he was there. And little by little, she began to forget that she had to be a good girl.

Vanitas made her feel good enough, without having that tag constantly plastered on her face.

She learned a few things about him. He was a year older, loved Sora with all his heart – even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud- and was in a band. With Riku’s twin, their cousin Roxas and his boyfriend.

“They’re all assholes,” he proclaimed, tossing her his phone from across the room. She caught it with no effort. It had taken her a while to get used to Vanitas’ just tossing her stuff – and a couple of phones to the face and the floor – but with Vanitas disregard for property, he didn’t seem to mind if she ever did drop it. “You’d like them.”

The picture was of the four of them smiling. Vanitas was flipping off the camera. Riku’s twin was rolling his eyes. A guy in the middle was pouting, while a red-haired man twice his size was draped around him. She smiled.

“They seem fun,” she said with a laugh. “Must be fun to be in a band! I took singing classes when I was little, but it was just boring choir stuff, you know?”

It had earned her a lot of “good girls”, but that hardly seemed to matter. Funny, nowadays she cared about having fun more than being called a good girl.

“Wanna come with us?” Vanitas asked.

“I can!?” Kairi beamed.

“Sure, I invite Sora all the time but his _boyfriend_ doesn’t want to breathe anywhere near Repliku,” Vanitas said, rolling his eyes. “Worst twins ever.”

“I’d love to go!” Kairi said with a bright flowery smile. “I really want to see you play, Vanitas!”

If the boy was blushing, neither said anything.

“Y-yeah sure, whatever,” he said.

* * *

If anyone had told Vanitas he would be hanging out with his goody-two-shoes brother’s best friend, he would have laughed in their faces without a second thought. Sora had near a thousand friends and they rarely were pleased to hang out with Vanitas. Mostly, because compared to his brother, Vanitas was a complete and utter jerk. And while Vanitas could handle Sora being an oblivious sack of pure love, he rare could handle _anyone_ else being that.

But well…Kairi was special.

For starters, while the girl was definitely the definition of a “good girl” she was not happy with the mould. More than once he had caught her being a jerk right back at him. Sure, with her innocent smile and generally caring nature, it was hard to actually describe it as her being a jerk. It was more of a…little shit.

Yeah, Kairi was a little shit. A precious little shit who smelled like pomegranate, and always made Vanitas laugh. It was hard not to love her, in fact. The strong determined personality of a devil mixed in with the loving soul of an angel. Yeah, Kairi was awesome.

And anyone who thought she wasn’t, was blind.

That’s why he had invited her to the band’s meet up. She seemed like she could use some more loosening up. It didn’t matter that he had to listen Repliku making kissy noises at him for the entire time.

“If you keep it up, I’m telling Naminé you didn’t eat her homemade cookies because you’re allergic to peanuts,” Vanitas bit back. That shut him up.

“He has a girlfriend?” Kairi asked, sitting in the couch of Axel’s garage.

“Eh, kinda?” Vanitas said, staring at Roxas for an explanation.

“Thin Ice,” Roxas said, moving his hand from side to side.

“Something like that…” Axel butted in.

“But we’re not here to discuss that idiot’s love life,” Vanitas said. “We’re here so the _princess_ can have some fun.”

“Ever sung before?” Axel asked, handing her the microphone.

“Used to take classes,” Kairi said with a smile. “But I’m far from the best…”

“Well, good thing everyone in here is shit,” Vanitas deadpanned. “Now, turn the speaker on, Shorty.”

Roxas rolled his eyes and did as he was told. Axel began playing the guitar, while Vanitas continued to touch up the bass. Roxas was on the drums, Repliku on the keyboard.

“Wait, what do I sing?” Kairi asked, turning around as she watched everyone start getting ready.

“Let it go, babe,” Vanitas grinned. “Just sing what your heart wants. We’ll clean up after.”

Kairi grimaced, a bit worried over her performance. She took in a deep breath, letting the music wash over her.

The last time she had sun had been in a talent show, a cutesy little song about love. She had hated it. But that was what she was supposed to sing. What perfectly good girls sang. She was tired of having to do that. All she wanted to do was…

“_Good afternoon, Sir. What can I do, Sir?”_ she sang in her cutesy little voice. But the bitter feelings of having to keep it up soon turned angry. Unconsciously, she spat out. “_Just say the word, Sir. Anything for you, Sir!_”

Vanitas stared mesmerized at the way Kairi was slowly letting herself go. With little jumps, her voice turned hoarser, giving the song an edge he wasn’t sure he had ever heard before.

“_I stood awake, wondering where my summers went!_” she shouted, screamed, her hair a mess from sweat and those little jumps. “_I just wanna be disobedient! Disobedient! Disobedient!”_

Her eyes were glimmering with light. Pure unadulterated light, as powerful as a wildfire and as gentle as a feather in the air. Kairi was _radiant_. Brimming in pure happiness as she sang out loud.

And her voice, hell. Her voice was _amazing_. An explosion of magic and fireworks that seemed to never end. And as the song slowly died down, and she came out of her high, she turned to see him.

A smile, full of the flowers in red bloom. Precious pearls that decorated her frame, a magic entranced spell that made him forget how to breathe. Her cheery pink lips parted, singing softly the very last bits of the song.

“_I want to be_…” she sang with peace and calm. The feeling was soon invading Vanitas, making him melt in the middle of the stage. “…_disobedient_…”

Periwinkle eyes were shining with a mischievous delight. Teasing him, taunting him. It drove him absolutely mad, and he wanted nothing more than to hear her laugh to match.

“Dude, you’re staring,” Repliku teased.

And while it made Kairi, in fact, laugh that didn’t stop Vanitas from squaring a punch straight into his best friend’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> i just want kairi to fucking SNAP


End file.
